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Television in Robloxia
Television in Robloxia, unlike television in real life, is a very small and relatively unknown industry. There are several major television networks, and many smaller ones, the latter of which can be hard to verify. Some of these channels have been discussed in more detail on other pages of the wiki. Mediums and features of broadcast Robloxian television is available in several mediums, mainly YouTube, Livestream, and Ustream. Some of these channels also provide a live feed of their channel on their websites. There are two ways one can recieve Robloxian television: direct (going to the URL of the channel) and through premium television services, such as roTV (which act like cable or satellite services, although these services are free). Direct broadcast television Direct broadcast television is similar to regular broadcast television in the United States, in the fact that it is free, and does not need the payment of a license fee, like free-to-air channels in Europe. More similar to the European model is that the whole of Robloxia is served by one feed of the channel, which is wholly controlled by the network and is based in one time zone, so time differences may occur to viewers in another part of the world. Channels based in North America are set to Eastern Time, while channels based in the United Kingdom are set in Greenwich Mean or British Summer Time, depending on the time of year. Premium television services The idea of cable service in Robloxia is very new, only brought up by BenzBot in late November 2012, unlike IRL services which have been around for decades. The term most often used for these cable-esque services in the Robloxian television industry is "premium television services". They serve as a central location to watch a wider range of channels not available through direct broadcast. The first, and one of the most dominant, premium television service is roTV, launched in 2015. Since then, multiple competitors have been launched or announced such as Amicable, 3view, and BBS Player, since its pivot from an on-demand service into a premium television service in February 2017. Premium television services compete and try to offer variety between each other by offering unique features or exclusive channels unavailable elsewhere. Channel format In Robloxia, channels are formatted in a European model, where every channel has its own unique channel number or URL, unlike the digital multichannel setup of the United States (x.1, x.2, x.3, etc.) Differences in Robloxia Certain variables make some parts of IRL television impossible to recreate. For example, a digital switchover, as seen in many parts of the world in the past decade, is not required, as the medium is already digital. Another major difference is the lack of a set "public broadcaster", which is a key role of many other nations' television channel setups; however, multiple channels in the style of a public broadcaster have launched in recent years, such as RTN1 and Exchange. For the most part, a change to 16:9 widescreen is not required (although for RN, it was needed to keep up with the improving technology of other competitor networks). Timeshift channels do not exist in Robloxia yet, but the feature has been considered by a few companies, and some networks (mainly the rTV Networks channels) offer repeats on auto-pilot during off-air hours, in a format known as a "timeshuffle" format. The main complication concerning timeshift channels in Robloxia is that, rather than delaying an existing feed, it requires effectively setting up an entire separate channel to play the same programs at the later time, an issue which has proven quite cumbersome to the development of such services. One key difference is the difference in advertising on Robloxian channels compared to IRL channels. Due to the shorter forms of most Robloxian series, Robloxian advertising airs in between programs only, unless an advertising break is intentionally set in filming and/or post-production, depending on the genre of the program.. Advertisements broadcast are usually IRL ads, specifically, ads without time-sensitive special offers, for easier repetition over long periods. High-definition channels were not widespread throughout much of the history of the Robloxian television industry, as the widely-used Original Livestream platform restricted streams to a low-quality standard-definition format. This made HD channels technically challenging, unless one opted to move to a different platform entirely such as Ustream or Twitch. In early 2018, as the search for a successor platform to Original Livestream continued, the potential to launch an HD channel through whatever new service that the industry decided on is seen as a priority by certain companies, namely rTV Networks, and it is predicted that most of the industry will broadcast in HD soon on a new, generally-agreed-upon streaming platform. Television channels and networks Major channels The major channels in Robloxian television are generally listed as rTV Networks' flagship rTV, Roblox Networks Television's RN, Lava Lamp Entertainment's Harmony and, formerly, RPN. These channels all are independent of each other, although rTVN influences RN heavily due to rTVN's long-held interest in and interaction with the channel. Mid-sized channels Mid-sized channels in the Robloxian television field are either channels from smaller broadcasters which have developed and matured, increasing in quality and popularity, or non-flagship channels affiliated with the major networks through either ownership stakes or the RTNG. These mid-sized channels include Bloxia1, RNT1, BBS Channel, and the secondary channels of the rTV Networks (Blox News Channel, Rnetwork, rTV2, rTV Max by [[Lava Lamp Entertainment]], Viva Roblox, rTV Life and Blox Flickz) and Lava Lamp Entertainment, such as FMC and Anisphere. Smaller channels There are many smaller channels in the Robloxian television industry, the exact number is hard to verify due to their size. The majority of these smaller channels are independent stations, started completely without the help of a larger network and with little knowledge of the industry or preparation. Many of these small channels fail to gain a foundation to create and launch programming, and they end up failing before they ever take off. The most infamous and notorious small channel was buddbudd222's BBN, which in the past had a very limited affiliation with networks involved in the RTNG, and was well known for having controversial practices. In spite of this, the channel had eventually grown to become a mid-sized channel, and its successor, BBS Channel, largely retained that title. In contrast, most other small networks have some affiliation with the RTNG and are in good standing with the industry. The KNC News Cast, which, although not a full network, has also become a very successful news program with a relatively large following. Other smaller networks throughout Robloxian television's history have included NNP (also called NNP1), Roblox TV Networks and RBXEN. Premium television channels Along with the rise of Robloxian premium television services, premium television channels have risen to populate them. roTV is most notable for them, due to having some of the more high-profile ones from major broadcasters, although Amicable also carries some high-profile exclusive networks. While most premium television channels are exclusive to one platform, due to the initial monopoly roTV had in the field prior to the launch of other services later, some channels are now being made available to multiple providers, such as Blox. Defunct and inactive channels All channels, no matter what size, can become either defunct or inactive -- the largest example of this is lenned's RNBC. In 2012, this network was one of the largest and most popular, with affiliations with TamatedRNetworks and RPN, two other major networks. Since then, the channel has gone down into inactivity. TamatedRNetworks closed on October 20, 2013, prior to which it was designated as a major network; however it re-opened in late January 2014 and was able to maintain its former status. It closed permanently in August 2014. Walt Bloxxy TV, an predecessor to AGTV (now GTV), was closed twice, due to the fact that they had no starting point. RPN has been largely inactive since around late 2015. Programming Programming on Robloxian television channels consist of either original series or series based on IRL television shows (mostly American, but other countries are also represented). ''Ellen'' replicas One major section of the Robloxian television programming industry are Ellen replica talk shows, or talk shows based on the format of IRL syndication hit The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Out of the four major networks, three of them have at least one program of this type: rTV's The BenzBot Show, RN's Newcastlefan (soon to be rebooted) and RPN's The Jonathanroxcp Show, which is the most popular television show in Robloxian history, with the biggest fan base of any Robloxian TV show. Jonathan was the key factor in launching RPN to its current success, despite having a gaping lack of evidence that episodes of the show were ever produced. Other much lesser-known Ellen replicas include The Super Show, The Coolmatthew213 Show, The Lenned Show, The Southwest321 Show, and The Robloxman Show. Most of these shows are or were affiliated with RNBC and/or Rox/RPN. Other talk show replicas Replicas (or format replicas) of other talk shows exist too, it's just that Ellen is the most used. The most prominent example currently is that Taker ''and ''Crayon are both similar to IRL series Conan. It is currently unknown if any replicas of other talk shows exist. rTV, at one time had the broadcast rights to both shows, but has dropped both series, according to its lineup as of September 13, 2013. Crayon is now becoming less similar to Conan than previously, and the show has become much more original than back when rTV lost the broadcasting rights for the series in late 2012. The rTV Networks "powerhouse" Thanks to the now-quarter-ownership (formerly half-ownership) of Roblox Networks by rTV Networks, rTVN has helped RN start production on its own original series, from dramas and comedies to a weekend lifestyle block and a news program. The rTV Networks is currently behind or helping to develop a vast majority of Robloxia's television series, through partnerships or just general program syndication (see following section). rTV Networks considers itself currently as "the powerhouse of Robloxian television" due to its major involvement in a lot of Robloxian television programming. Unfortunately, throughout much of 2013, rTV Networks was very stagnant in helping produce a lot of these programs, which, in turn, has slowed down the Robloxian television industry. This is being remedied, however, as rTV has begun to be more aggressive in program production as of January 2014. Robloxian program syndication Robloxian program syndication is different from syndication in real life, as it is not used by independent channels to fill lineups, it is moreso used by full-fledged, major and mid-size channels, who are perfectly fine at producing their own content, in order to air a certain show that belongs to another network. This is generally similar to first-run syndication, although the program is still being produced by the network which is also being the syndicator. Some examples of shows that were at some point in syndication in Robloxia include: *rTV's The BenzBot Show is syndicated on RN, and the reverse is true for RN's talk shows, including Newcastlefan and The Lemon Show. This may not be an example of true syndication, due to rTVN's partial ownership of RNTV, which makes it seem more like a sister station agreement than a syndication deal. *RBS's Taker was syndicated on rTV for a period, before being removed in January 2014 due to a lack of episodes available. *GTV 's Gavent was syndicated on rTV, and vice versa for rTV's The BenzBot Show. The show was planned before rTVN's 19% ownership of what was then Gavent Television Group, therefore making it more of a syndication deal than a sister station agreement. Gavent would later move to rTV outright in April 2017, following the closure of Gavent Networks, and syndication rights to the show are currently held by rTV2 and Talker. Whether a program will be syndicated is between the network, and if the network is not in full control of the production, the host or creator of the show. In the latter case, the host or creator of the show has a major say on whether or not the program will be syndicated, a model not seen in real-life processes. Programming differences In Robloxia, certain genres of television programming do not exist or exist sparsely in the field. Due to the Anglophone dominance of the industry, programming in non-English languages does not take any level of priority among any major networks. The Roblox Television Networks Group has suggested at least one Robloxian channel for major non-English languages be created, but this will not likely come to any fruition. Game shows have a much lower presence in Robloxia than in reality, although a few have been made, such as Ten From 100 on rTV and Robloxian Ninja Warrior on Harmony. Robloxian remakes of British game shows also made up a majority of BBN prior to its closure. Game shows will most likely have much lower prize values in Robloxia due to the small amount of funding available and used in Robloxian television networks. Childrens' programming did not exist much on the Robloxian airwaves until early 2017. Generally, programming that could be classified as such was (and in many cases still is) lumped in with regular general entertainment programming (although the RTRS includes a rating for childrens' programming). IRL children's programming, however, has grown in prominence beginning in early 2017. While channels had been planned prior to this, such as GN2 and rTV3, the current interest in this type of programming has been spurred on by the industrial entry, and subsequent relaunch, of Cartoon Everything in early 2017. The channel has featured IRL animated children's programming since its inception due to its Cartoon Network-inspired focus, and its relaunch in early 2017 sparked the launches of multiple competitors such as Cartoon Network Roblox and JWR Network. Soap operas are also virtually nonexistent in Robloxian television, although Motion experimented with airing IRL soap operas before its closure in March 2018. Tabloid talk shows, specifically the more sensationalist variety (i.e. Maury) are not produced in Robloxian television, and even if such a show were to air, it would most likely be considered too risky to air or be stuck with an almost-guaranteed 18 rating. Regulation and management While most programming is managed by the networks themselves, programming is also regulated through the Roblox Television Networks Group (RTNG), through its Robloxian Television Ratings System (RTRS). Generally, the networks are able to air what they want, at any time they feel like it within their regularly scheduled, previously announced programming hours. The networks can assemble their programming at their own discretion. There is no jurisdiction from any party about the creation or management of new television networks, so one could create any number of new Robloxian television networks and any number of new shows without having to consult anyone for approval. The only major hurdles are viewership and publicity (where most small start-ups fail) and producing and securing programming, and scheduling said programming at a time that viewers can watch it. Category:Summary